Last week Instagram caused a stir when its founder and CEO Kevin Systrom announced that his company would be shutting off support for Twitter Cards.

This initially meant Instagram images appeared oddly cropped in the Twitter feed, and earlier this week all Instagram images were gone, replaced with links to Instagram.com.

Now Twitter has returned fire by launching its own suite of photo-filters.

It's a snap

Twitter updated its app on Monday and announced the new feature in an official blog post.

“Starting today, you’ll be able to edit and refine your photos, right from Twitter. The latest versions of Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android introduce a few new ways to enhance the images you tweet,” wrote Twitter Senior Designer Coleen Baik.

Twitter partnered with Aviary, a firm that provides image-editing API's, for the new feature.

Unfiltered message

Twitter users can now select from eight different filters, including black and white and vintage options. The filters bear more than a passing resemblance to Instagram's own offering.

In addition to filters users can crop, enhance and view images within the Twitter stream.

Twitter released a video outlining all the features of the new filters.

A matter of timing

Twitter attempted to frame the release as part of broader, long-term move towards integrating images on the platform.

“In June, 2011, we introduced the ability to attach a photo to your Tweet, a first step toward improving the entire photo experience on Twitter. Since then we’ve been making it easier and faster to share and discover and enjoy great photos on Twitter every day,” explained Baik.

However, last week's move from Facebook-owned Instagram to shut off support may well have forced Twitter's hand in keeping up with the Jones' (or Zuckerbergs).

Interestingly, a few hours before Twitter's announcement Instagram released its own update including a new filter.

Coincidence? We think not.

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